Andras Schiff's reputation has ensured full houses, with standing,
for his Chopin and his Idols programmes. Their prime critical
importance lies in the two pianos played, which brought audiences, most
of whom were probably uninvolved in the 'authentic instrument' controversies,
face to face with thinking about possible alternatives to the ubiquitous
Steinway. As Schiff put it, with gentle good humour, we have been brainwashed
into taking for granted that pianos should always be black and made
by Steinway. Excellent though those are, they are not ideal for all
music and he deplores the covering up of natural wood colours. "The
Wigmore Hall used to be called the Bechstein Hall - when did we last
hear a Bechstein, Bösendorfer or Ibach here?"

It was indeed a Steinway, though a very unusual one, which Schiff played
for the classical halves of his programmes. With the name of the Italian
Steinway agent and technician Fabbrini painted boldly on the side, it
had a dry, bright quality which suited well the Mozart pieces
and especially his sparkling Scarlatti selection - isn't it amazing
how well Scarlatti's sonatas sound whether on harpsichord or
on piano, and interpreted very variously by numerous pianists from Horowitz
to Perahia (my own favourite a double CD by Pletnev, probably n.l.a.)
- an inexhaustible mine of imagination and invention. On 10 January,
Bach's Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue was played straightforwardly,
sparing the pedal and without such subtle nuances that Angela
Hewitt draws from Steinway - hers the justly admired 'Bach flavour
of the turn of the century' for that repertoire. Schiff's Mozart was
a little straight-laced; the Variations in Bb (Tudor
7019)less alluring than Gilbert
Schuchter achieves on a Bösendorfer in the revelatory complete
recording of Mozart's solo piano music with which he followed that of
Schubert's; both boxes that I cannot urge too highly.

For Chopin, Andras Schiff changed to a beautiful, rich brown
Pleyel of 1860, which had been restored and prepared by the same Fabbrini,
with his name rather tastelessly displayed on the side - unfortunately,
Schiff did not, in his all too brief talk, go into detail about either
instrument, beyond saying that he hadn't been playing Chopin for many
years, had felt the usual Steinways were 'not ideal' and that this Pleyel/Fabbrini
instrument had 'opened new worlds' for him.

On 13 December I had small reservations in the large, dramatic Chopin
works, in which he seemed to be still feeling his way, and we with him,
but none for the nocturne and waltzes which he played as encores; no
question that the unusual sounds and balance between registers made
you listen with a particular intentness. On 10 January I felt a greater
assurance in Schiff's deeply satisfying sequence of Ballades & Scherzi
(two of each as before, broken up this time with an Etude and the Berceuse)
and rather wished he had used the Pleyel for the whole recital.

It is all credit to Andras Schiff that he remains loyal to the relatively
small Wigmore Hall, ideal for the sound qualities he seeks to share.
I anticipate a recording project to follow this series, and you might
be able to get returns to catch the final programme on February 14/15.